Microsoft finally responds to the rise of Google as a serious player in the productivity application and collaboration space – I suppose it was the release of Sites (a direct threat to SharePoint in some markets) which finally drew a response out of Microsoft. But as these articles below indicate – most of what we hear are things Microsoft has been talking about (just not doing) for years.

Microsoft seems to have finally decided to take the SaaS service delivery into its own hands – though it has allowed partners to host Microsoft applications for customers since 2002. The one major problem Microsoft has that Google (at least today) does not is this – just the thought of Microsoft hosting the applications directly is a major potential disruption to its basic business model, which is all about using Microsoft Partners and the Channel to do this kind of work! I guess we’ll see in the next few months what the fall-out may be – meanwhile, enjoy the articles below!

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